Aluminum barrier support post

ABSTRACT

A new post is comprised of an elongated body of extruded aluminum having linear, uninterrupted surfaces and having an integral post portion of one cross-section and an integral driveblade portion of a different cross-section. The drive-blade portion includes a pair of integrally extruded drive blades extending outwardly in opposite directions from the body, and the integral connections of the drive blades to the body facilitate straight driving into the ground with a minimum of soil disturbance. The invention provides a one-piece barrier support post with integral drive blades which requires less maintenance than steel posts and has improved performance properties over two-piece aluminum or steel barrier post constructions.

Bidwell 1 July 9,1974

[ ALUMINUM BARRIER SUPPORT POST [75] Inventor: Arthur W. Bidwell,Middletown,

Ohio I [73] Assignee: Magno de Products, Inc., Trenton,

Ohio

22 Filed: Jan. 22, 1973 21 1 Appl. No.: 325,408

Related US. Application Data [63] Continuation of Ser. No. 153,643, June16, 1971.

[52] US. Cl. 256/l3.l, 52/153 [51] 'Int. Cl E01f 15/00 [58] Field ofSearch 256/131, 48, 47, l, 32, 256/34, 59, 65; 52/153, 154

[5 6] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 186,271 l/l877 Rickard52/154 X 531,724 l/1895 Horn 52/153 X 1,444,641 2/1923 Rowe 256/481,709,732 4/1929 Mierkey... 52/154 1,915,535 6/1933 Johnson 7 52/1532,008,794 7/1935 Obbard 52/153 2,181,703 11/1939 McCracken 256/l3.12,323,514 7/1943 Brickman 256/131 3,276,750 10/1966 DeRidder 256/131Primary Examiner-Dennis L. Taylor Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Biebel,French 8L Bugg [57] ABSTRACT A new post is comprised of an elongatedbody of extruded aluminum having linear, uninterrupted surfaces andhaving an integral post portion of one crosssection and an integraldrive-blade portion of a different cross-section. The drive-bladeportion includes a pair of integrally extruded drive blades extendingoutwardly in opposite directions from the body, and the integralconnections of the drive blades to the body facilitate straight drivinginto the ground with a minimum of soil disturbance. The inventionprovides a one-piece barrier support post with integral drive bladeswhich requires less maintenancethan steel posts and has improvedperformance properties over two-piece aluminum or steel barrier postconstructrons.

6 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures PATENTEDJIJL 919" SHEET 1 BF 2 FIG-4 FIGFIG2

//V VE/V TOR BDWELL W R U H T R A PATENTEDM 3.822.863

SHEET 2 BF 2 CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application isa continuation of U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 153,643, filed June 16,1971.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Barriers used along mediam strips and alongthe sides of highways generally include one or more horizontal guardrails supported by one or more vertical support posts. The support postsare usually constructed of steel or wood of various cross-sections, andthe guard rails are generally bolted to surfaces of the posts after theposts have been anchored to the roadbed. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No.2,181,703 of 1939.

Support posts constructed of steel have several disadvantages. First,they corrode and rust, and require frequent painting to maintain theirstructural integrity. Painting maintenance is notvonly costly but alsodangerous because maintenance personnel must work in high-traffic areas.Also, to prevent rusting, steel posts are often galvanized with acoating of zinc, but this added step increases the cost of the overallstructure, through both the initialcostof galvanizing and themaintenance costs which begin approximately years after environmentalexposure. Because of the maintenance limitations of steel, aluminumsupport posts which do not rust offer substantial maintenance savingsbecause they do not require painting.

To be effective, it is important that support posts be securely anchoredto the ground so that they can resist displacement upon impact fromerrant automobiles. Otherwise, upon impact, the posts are apt to bepushed laterally through the soil thereby permitting excessive lateralmovement of the rail under impact and permitting the errant vehicle toproceed into the area being protected by the barrier rail. Posts of theprior art have relied upon two-piece construction, bolted or weldedconnection to various underground or ground embedded supportingstructures or alternatively to encasement in concrete to increase theirability to withstand lateral movement under impact. See, e.g., U.S. Pat.No. 3,258,250 of 1960. i v

To eliminate painting maintenance and to eliminate encasement inexpensive footers, it has been proposed in which apiece of steel isattached to the bottom of the posts with bolts, rivets, or some otherprotruding member. See U.S. Pat. Nos.v 1,964,404 of 1938 and 2,899,175of 1959. Sheet steel has also been used for fence posts with anchorplates, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,401,978 of 1946. In each case,the anchor plates provide lateral stability and make it difficult toremove the posts from the ground.

It has been found, however, that steel or aluminum posts with bolted-onanchor plates have significant limitations. The bolts protrude and snagon rocks, making it difficult to drive the posts through soil andespecially through asphalt. Once snagged, the bolts tend to shear off orcome loose, causing driving angle deviations or distortion of the post.Oftenv the anchor plates come loose. In addition, the bolts may tearthrough the post 2 and cause weakness and post buckling. Similarproblems are encountered with riveted assemblies.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is directed to animproved aluminum support post for barrier rails or the like and to animproved method for making a barrier support post. In general, thebarrier support post of the present invention is characterized byimproved strength and resistance to deformation, and by integral driveblades which facilitate straight driving into the ground.

In accordance with the invention, a one-piece post and drive blade iscomprised of an elongated body of extruded aluminum having linear,uninterrupted surfaces. The body has an integral post portion,preferably of an I-shaped cross-section, and an integral drivebladeportion, having a T-shaped cross-section. The

drive-blade portion is preferably intermediately disposed along thebody, and includes a pair of integrally extruded drive blades extendingoutwardly in opposite directions from the body. To facilitate straightdriving into the ground with a minimum of soil disturbance, the postincludes radiused portions at the integral connections of the driveblades to the body, and these portions provide a smooth transition frompost portion to driveblade portion.

In the improved method, the barrier post is formed by extruding aluminuminto an elongated length having a generally T-shaped cross-section withsmooth, unbroken surfaces and with continuous integral flange segmentsextending outwardly in opposite directions from each other. The lengthis sectioned into barrier post lengths, long enough to extend above theground a distance of about 20-30 inches, and to be driven into theground a distance of about 3-5 feet. Once the lengths have beensectioned, symmetrically corresponding portions of the flange segmentsare removed, as by a shearing process, to form the integral drive bladeson the support post and to produce a one-piece aluminum post and driveblade.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a partially cut away elevationshowing a horizontal guide rail attached toa pair of vertical barriersupport posts, and showing the drive blades of the support postsembedded in the ground below the road surfaces;

FIG. 2 is a partially broken away elevation of a support postconstructed according to the present inven-' tion;

FIG. 3 is a side view of the support post of FIG. 2, and showing itembedded in the ground;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line 4 4 in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a second embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the clean break line made in theearth by the drive blades and support post of the present invention;

FIG. 7 shows an elongated length of aluminum being extruded in thecross-section shown in FIG. 4, and

showing that the length may be severed into a plurality from the lengthextruded in FIG. 7, and showing that r a portion thereof is severable;and

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the post of FIG. 8, with the portionremoved to provide a one-piece post with integral drive blades.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIG. 1, a medianbarrier 10 for example includes a horizontal guard rail 11 mounted ontwo or more vertical support posts 12 embedded in a roadbed 13 of earthor asphalt-covered earth. The support posts 12 are commonly driven intothe roadbed (sometimes through a layer of asphalt) by a special drivingdevice (not shown), and the guard rail 11 is bolted or otherwiseconnected to the top portions of the posts 12.

In accordance with the invention, each post 12 is comprised of anextruded body 15 of aluminum (FIG. 2) having linear, uninterrupted outersurfaces and preferably in the form of an I-beam in which a central web16 (FIG. 4) extends between a transverse front flange 17 and atransverse rear flange 18. The body 15 also includes a pair ofintegrally extruded drive blades 20 also having linear, uninterruptedouter surfaces. The body 15 essentially consists of an intermediatedrive-blade portion disposed between an upper post portion 26 and alower post portion 27, although the drive-blade portion 25 could as wellbe located at the lower end of the post. An I-beam construction ispreferred because it is a strong construction and has reinforcingcharacteristics, although the invention is not limited to bodies withI"-shaped cross-sections.

The drive blades 20 extend outwardly in opposite directions fromintegral connections with the front flange 17. The drive blade portion25 accordingly has a T- shaped cross-sectional configuration (FIG. 4),as contrasted with the I"-shaped cross-sectional configuration of thepost portions 26 and 27. The drive blades may have various shapes andconfigurations. In one embodiment, the drive blades 20 are smaller inthickness than the front flange 17 and are offset a short distancerearwardly of the forward face 28 (FIGS. l-4), while in anotherembodiment the drive blades 20 have the same thickness as the frontflange 17 (FIG. 5).

The drive blades 20 are preferably generally rectangular, as shown, andare preferably integrally connected to the body 15 intermediate the endsthereof. Arcuate portions 30 integrally connect the drive blades 20 tothe body 15, at least to the lower post portion 27 thereof. and theportions 30 provide a smooth and integrally arcuate transition from theport portion 27 to the drive-blade portion 25 which facilitates straightdriving into the ground.

In a representative post 12 constructed according to the presentinvention, the flanges l7 and 18 would have a width of 2% inches and theweb 16 a depth of 3-% inches. The post 12 would be approximately 55inches in length, and the drive blades 20 would each have a width ofabout 2-% inches and a length of about 24 inches. The thickness of thedrive blades 20, for example, would be 3/I6 5/16 inch.

Referring to FIGS. 6-8, an improved method of making a barrier supportpost comprises the step of extruding aluminum from an extruder into anextended length 41 having a T-shaped cross-section with smooth outersurfaces and with continuous integral flange segments 42 extendingoutwardly in opposite directions. The length 41 is then sectioned intobarrier support post lengths 44 (FIG. 6), and then generallysymmetrically corresponding portions 45 and 46 are removed or shearedaway (FIG. 7) to form integral drive blades 20 and to form an integrallyextruded one-piece post and drive blade 12 (FIG. 9) with increasedstrength and smooth surfaces for facilitating straight driving into theground with a minimum of soil disturbance.

From the foregoing description and accompanying drawing it is apparentthat a barrier support and drive blade post constructed according to thepresent invention provides certain desirable features and advantages.For example, the support post 12, being constructed wholly of aluminum,provides significant painting maintenance savings over steel posts. Inaddition, the post 12 eliminates the need for a two-piece post and forthe attendent bolting, riveting, or welding required to join two-pieceposts. It also eliminates the potential weakness and tendency to buckleor bend which heretofore was encountered in bolted two-piece structures,when the protruding bolt heads snagged on rocks or the like. Theintegral structure also provides increased strength over weldedtwo-piece posts which undergo annealing in welded areas.

Furthermore, with reference to FIG. 6, another desirable feature of thepresent invention is that the post provides a clean breakline at thesurface of the roadbed 56 when it is driven into the ground or throughasphalt. Because of the smooth outer surfaces and the arcuate transitionfrom post to post-and'drive blade, the post 12 does not have protrudingmembers which are apt to snag on rocks and cause drive-angle deviations.Rather, the post of the present invention drives into the groundstraighter and with less soil disturbance than the posts of the priorart.

In addition, since many of these posts must be driven through asphalt,the smooth outer surfaces and the attendent clean break line facilitaterefilling by the installing contractor. They provide smaller, cleanerbreaks which are less costlyv to fill. Further, smooth breaks at thesurface, when properly filled, serve to limit the possibility of waterintrusion into the post holes, thereby reducing water and ice damage tothe surrounding roadway.

While the method and form of apparatus herein described constitutepreferred embodiments of the invention, it embodiments of the invention,it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to this precisemethod and form of apparatus and that changes may be made thereinwithout departing from the scope of the invention which is defined inthe appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a barrier for use along automotive highways and on median strips,wherein the barrier is positioned along at least one side of the roadbedand includes generally horizontally disposed rails supported by supportposts, wherein the posts are driven into the earth of the roadbed adistance sufficient to stabilize said barrier against accidental impactby vehicles travelling on said highways, the improvement comprising aunitary extruded all-aluminum barrier support post having an elongatedbody of extruded aluminum with linear, uninterrupted outer drivingsurfaces, said extruded body having an integral post portion of across-section in the shape of front and rear flanges with an integralconnecting web and an integral drive-blade portion of a differentcross-section, said drive-blade portion having a pair of drive bladesextending outwardly in opposite directions, and said drive-blades beingformed integrally on said post by extrusion and shearing to provide anextruded one-piece, high strength, unannealed post and sheareddrive-blade having increased strength and linear, uninterrupted drivingsurfaces for facilitating straight driving into the ground with aminimum of soil disturbance.

2. The post of claim 1 wherein said integral connections comprisesheared arcuate portions which form an is located intermediate the endsof said post portion.

6. A unitary extruded all-aluminum barrier support post comprising anelongated body having upper-and lower post portions of an I-shapedcross-section and an intermediate drive-blade portion of a T" shapedcross-section, said body having linear, uninterrupted outer surfaces,said drive-blade portion being formed integrally on said post byextrusion and shearing, and

said drive-blade portion including a pair of integral drive bladesextending outwardly in opposite directions from said body, the shearedshape of at least the lower portion of said drive blade, at the areawhere it joins the post, providing an arcuate smooth transition fromsaid post-portion to said drive-blade portion to achieve a one-piecepost and drive-blade with increased strength and smooth surfaces forfacilitating straight driving into the ground with a minimum of soildisturbances.

w g UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No.318221863 Dated July 9 I 1974 R Arthur W. Bidwell Inventor(s) It iscertified that error appears in the above-identified patent and thatsaid Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Col. 4, line 45, delete "it embodiments of the inventiori,".

Signed and sealed this 4th day of March 1975 (SEAL) Attest C. MARSHALLDANN RUTH C. MASON Commissioner of Patents Attesting Officer andTrademarks

1. In a barrier for use along automotive highways and on median strips,wherein the barrier is positioned along at least one side of the roadbedand includes generally horizontally disposed rails supported by supportposts, wherein the posts are driven into the earth of the roadbed adistance sufficient to stabilize said barrier against accidental impactby vehicles travelling on said highways, the improvement comprising aunitary extruded allaluminum barrier support post having an elongatedbody of extruded aluminum with linear, uninterrupted outer drivingsurfaces, said extruded body having an integral post portion of across-section in the shape of front and rear flanges with an integralconnecting web and an integral drive-blade portion of a differentcross-section, said drive-blade portion having a pair of drive bladesextending outwardly in opposite directions, and said drive-blades beingformed integrally on said post by extrusion and shearing to provide anextruded one-piece, high strength, unannealed post and sheareddrive-blade having increased strength and linear, uninterrupted drivingsurfaces for facilitating straight driving into the ground with aminimum of soil disturbance.
 2. The post of claim 1 wherein saidintegral connections comprise sheared arcuate portions which form anarcuately smooth and integral transition from said post portion to saiddrive-blade portion to facilitate straight driving into the ground. 3.The post of claim 1 wherein said post portion has an ''''I''''-shapedcross-section, and said drive-blade portion has a ''''T''''-shapedcross-section.
 4. The post of claim 1 wherein said body has a smoothforward face, sand said drive blades are offset rearwardly a shortdistance from said face.
 5. The post of claim 1 in which said drive laidportion is located intermediate the ends of said post portion.
 6. Aunitary extruded all-aluminum barrier support post comprising anelongated body having upper and lower posT portions of an''''I''''-shaped cross-section and an intermediate drive-blade portionof a ''''T''''-shaped cross-section, said body having linear,uninterrupted outer surfaces, said drive-blade portion being formedintegrally on said post by extrusion and shearing, and said drive-bladeportion including a pair of integral drive blades extending outwardly inopposite directions from said body, the sheared shape of at least thelower portion of said drive blade, at the area where it joins the post,providing an arcuate smooth transition from said post portion to saiddrive-blade portion to achieve a one-piece post and drive-blade withincreased strength and smooth surfaces for facilitating straight drivinginto the ground with a minimum of soil disturbances.